Caps to get taste of own medicine against SA Quicks in home tests

The Black Caps may be exceedingly wary of trying to fight fire with fire in their next test series.

New Zealand will face South Africa in two tests next month, with the visiting side fresh off a remarkable series win at home over India. In a notably lowscoring series, the Proteas defeated the world’s top-ranked test side 2-1 on the back of the brilliance of their quick bowlers.

Fast bowling dominated the series and South Africa got the upper hand of that clash chiefly courtesy of three pacemen – Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi – who claimed 54 wickets in three tests as South Africa rebounded from a firsttest defeat and the much-vaunted Indian batting line-up unable to record a score more than 266 in their last five innings.

Ngidi led the averages, taking 15 wickets at 15, newcomer Jansen had 19 scalps at 16.47 and Rabada led all wicket-takers with 20 at 19.05.

Add in five wickets from Duanne Olivier and the Proteas grabbed 59 wickets from their speed merchants, at an average of 20.13, with a strike-rate of a wicket every 39.8 deliveries. Leftarm spinner Keshav Maharaj took the other Indian wicket but bowled just 32 overs in five innings.

The South African quicks must therefore be licking their lips at the prospect of two tests in February at Hagley Oval in Christchurch (February 17) and Wellington’s Basin Reserve (February 25).

In New Zealand’s win over Bangladesh last week in Christchurch, 18 of the visiting wickets fell to NZ’s four-pronged pace attack of Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Kyle Jamieson and Neil Wagner – with the other two from medium-pacer Daryl Mitchell and retiring ‘‘offspinner’’ Ross Taylor.

In the previous two comprehensive test wins by the Black Caps at the venue, 37 of the 40 wickets have been taken by the pace bowlers.

In the country’s capital, pace bowling has also been a recipe for the hosts to feast on opponents. The last three tests at the Basin have seen NZ capture 57 wickets through their quick bowlers, including the most recent romp over the West Indies

in December 2020, when Southee and Jamieson shared 14 wickets as all 20 fell to the quicks.

Hagley Oval and the Basin are known as New Zealand’s two fastest, bounciest test wickets – a key aspect for the South African quicks who revelled in similar conditions at home.

India’s head coach Rahul Dravid said the tall South

Africanbowlers profited partly due to their ability to maximise the benefit of the bounce and unevenness of the wickets.

As Cricinfo’s stats editor S Rajesh pointed out, the Proteas’ star trio shone when bowling ‘‘back of a length’’ or short – they averaged 14.57 to India’s 38.54.

South Africa’s pace bowlers also generated a record amount

of catches for any test series of three games or fewer, many springing from short deliveries.

Fifty-four of the 60 Indian wickets were through catches off the fast bowlers, Rajesh wrote, with 30 off deliveries that were short or back of a length, and 42 of those 54 catches were taken in the cordon behind the stumps, from leg slip to backward point.

Black Caps coach Gary Stead said prior to the start of the home test season that the hosts would go with a ‘‘horses for courses’’ approach with the selection of their bowling attack.

That’s understandable, but few visiting teams of late have had the quick-bowling firepower of the Proteas, despite their inexperience, and the squad which tours next month could add the impetus of Anrich

Nortje, who missed the series versus India through injury.

What New Zealand may be banking on is their batting – South Africa also struggled with the bat against India on surfaces tailor-made for the pacemen. Temba Bavuma was the only member of the Proteas to average more than 50 with the bat, helped by three not-outs.

But the Black Caps will not want to play the series without their best batter, as skipper Kane Williamson remains in doubt because of his elbow injury.